Decimal of sp. gr. ·055 × 360 = 19·8 lbs. per barrel.
Again, a barrel of wort weighs 379·8 lbs., that is, 360 lbs. for the
weight of a barrel of water, and 19·8 lbs. for the weight of saccharine in
the water, then--
297·8 ÷ 360 = 1·055 specific gravity.
It is usually stated in works on brewing that certain temperatures must be
reached by each variety of beer, during the progress of the fermentation,
in order for the liquor to acquire its characteristic flavour. Thus, it is
stated that mild beer begins to acquire flavour when the heat of
fermentation arrives at 75° Fahr., increases at 80°, and is highest at
90°, but sometimes even reaches 100°. Old ale is said to obtain its best
flavour at a temperature not exceeding 75°; and porter at 70° Fahr. In
order to reach these temperatures the worts are directed to be set at from
10° to 15° lower, the rise being due to the heat generated during the
fermentation. That these statements refer principally to the old methods
of brewing is shown by the fact that some of the brewers of Bavaria,
Scotland, and Burton-on-Trent produce rich and high-flavoured liquors at
temperatures vastly below those above enumerated. Still, however, the fact
must not be concealed, that since the introduction of the new German
system of brewing into England the general character of its beers, as they
reach the consumer, are inferior in strength and flavour to those of a
former period. We may now seek almost in vain for the fine vinous,
high-flavoured, invigorating old beers vended in our early days by the
common publicans and tavern-keepers, of whom the larger majority were
their own brewers. Under the new system of chemical brewing, as worked by
those huge monopolists, the 'great brewers,' the only object appears to be
to obtain the largest quantity possible of saccharine out of the quarter
of malt, and to convert this into the largest possible quantity of beer,
with little regard to flavour or quality, but an excessive one for their
own profits. In due course this liquor is forced on their helpless tenants
the publicans, who, in their turn, 'reduce' and 'doctor' the liquor,
until, by the time it reaches the consumer, its insipidity and low
strength would have led even a brewer's drayman of the last century to
cast it into the kennel.
The best times for brewing are the spring and autumn; as at those periods
of the year the temperature of the air is such as to permit of the easy
cooling of worts sufficiently low, without having recourse to artificial
refrigeration, or to the use of machinery for the purpose. Old ale cannot
be conveniently brewed in summer.